Can anyone recommend a good sleeping bag?

[garygkn]

Hi, I am looking for a sleeping bag that packs small and is light, any recommendations please?
Also is there a similar thing in sleeping mats?

I know technology has moved thing along a little in recent years.

Many thanks.

[knapster]

What season are we talking? - obviously the warmer the bag needs to be the heavier it becomes.

Generally down sleeping bags pack down well.

I have a Mountain Equipment Xero 350 - zero rated with -15 extreme rating (you'd need to be clothed!) only 730g - packs down and takes up one side of the bottom of my pannier. Amazingly well made, but around the £200 mark. You need to use the neck baffle properly for the bag to work. Still, I highly recommend it. Fabulous.

Cheap(er) bags can be had from Alpkit.

[alicej]

It's moved on so much that there are now hundreds of choices, and unless you're very specific about what exactly you want you'll probably get a bewildering number of answers about what other people find best for them. That may well be very useful to you, but we could probably be more useful if you could narrow down what you want a bit more.

Do you want a sleeping bag that's square at the foot end so you can move your legs a bit, or are you OK with a "mummy" shaped one which narrows quite a lot at the foot end - less room to move around inside, but reduces the size it packs down to?

Do you tend to get particularly cold at night (compared with other people)? Where/when are you thinking of using them - only summer in England, or all year round in the Arctic?

What is your budget, roughly, for both sleeping bag and mat?

What have you tried so far? Asking this because just about any inflatable mat will be a big improvement on an old roll of foam, but if you already have a cheap inflatable then perhaps you'd like to know which are the better quality ones? How small and light would you consider small and light?

I'll start off suggestions with the Thermarest http://cascadedesigns.com/en/therm-a-re ... t/category which are inflatable mats which fold in half lengthways and then roll up, to something like 28 x 10 cm when packed - easily small enough to fit sideways in the bottom of a pannier, and much more comfortable than traditional foam mats we used when I was a kid.

[Hypocacculus]

Check out Rab. High quality goosedown bags. Not cheap.

I have two Rab bags; a conventional 3+ season that has served me well for 18 years now, and a Quantum top bag, an insane sleeping bag with no zip and no insulation on the bottom half - more like a little quilt. It is not for the faint hearted but it packs up tiny and only weighs 400g, perfect for summer touring although I bought it for hiking.

[Vorpal]

I love my Slumberjack, which I bought for long walking/hiking trips, but also packs down well for cycling. When I bought mine, it came with a lined, waterproof pouch that hasn't (yet) leaked. I don't know, however, where to get them in the UK.

[al_yrpal]

The Decathlon range is pretty comprehensive. I have a Decathlon Quelcha mummy type bag rated for 5 degrees, at 40 quid it was a bargain, warm and comfy for summer spring and autumn. At 1.5 kg some would say its heavy, but you cant get warmth without weight in cheaper synthetic bags. I wouldnt buy any bag without actually seeing it and feeling it.

Halfords backpacker air bed with built in inflator is 15 quid. It beats any sleep mat for comfort and weighs 850g

Al

[garygkn]

Sorry for not being very specific here.
I should have said camping in England in the summer.
Travelling light.
I was looking at light weight tents and wanted a light weight sleeping bag.
The blow up lightweight mat sounded good.
Just grabbing one nighters away in the summer months.

[Fred Ivory]

Hi man, get down to Millets they have Colemans gbp15.00 they crush up small o.k. Fred

[takeonafrica]

Check out Cumulus. Good quality down at v competitive prices... V happy with mine and would buy again.

[peter99]

You won't go far wrong with Alpkit. Best performance to price there is.

[velociraptor]

If money no object I recommend phdesigns bags- made in uk & you can even design your own bag. Also, they guarantee their down is not plucked from live birds! Keep an eye out for their sales.
For a mat a use thermarest ridge rest chopped down to torso length and rolled up to line tent dry bag.

[sloe]

Much prefer the roll of foam. A good one will be 10 to 12mm thick and same weight or lighter than a blow up mattress, around 300g. And it's actually warmer. I've tried the thermarests, don't like.

[shane]

Also very pleased with my Cumulus, bought it direct from the factory in Poland, and got it customised to 250g down for summer use:). It now weights in at 600g, I've slept in it warm at 10 degrees, comfort at 8 degrees, a little chilly at 5.

I always have to add 5 degrees to the advised "comfort temp" because I'm a softy